The Monument
by Idrelle Miocovani
Summary: The leader of a young group of girls tries to decipher the story of the woman buried inside a magnificent marble monument built near the ruins of Theed. Far future. Originally written in December 2005.


**A/N:** I was digging through my fanfic files again and I came across this little vignette. I wrote it way back in December 2005, so my writing style was still evolving. I re-read it, and I liked it, so I thought I'd share. This is supposed to take place in the far future. Quite far in the future, on Naboo.

* * *

**The Monument**

We sit there and stare at the marble block. Meika and I found it the day before, up on the hill where all the ruins are. Those mysterious ruins of Theed. The old capital is nothing more than a quiet, empty place inhabited by centuries-old stones.

This block is different from the others. Rather than the warm, creamy colour of the building stones around the hill, this one is silvery-white. I reach out and brush the slab with my hand – it's much smoother than the other stones. Polished, and well cared for.

The other kids watch me in some sort of awe – something that I find very amusing. They look up to me as their leader against the "big" kids, the ones who drive their speeders around, trying to knock us over, teasing us, bullying us, calling us names and throwing rocks at us.

We can do without those "big" kids. Here, everything is better. Here, on the hill, by the block, where no "big" kid dares to go. They seem to be afraid of mystery.

One of the little girls imitates me as she runs her fingers around the slab, picking at the bits of dirt and twigs that have collected in the engravings over the years. She's given me an idea.

"Maybe if we can clean this up, then we'll be able to see what it was for!" I say excitedly.

The others nod and rapidly join us in cleaning of the slab until it shines brightly in the sunlight, free from the tangles of vegetation and grime.

"What's it for, Kailé?" Meika asks me wondrously.

The girls turn to me, expecting a grand answer.

"It's a monument," I say slowly, my mind racing. I, too, wonder what this slab could have been built for. "It's a monument to honour a goddess – no, a queen!"

"Why not a king?" Kandé asks quietly.

"Because of the angel engraved at the top, dummy," Meika says scathingly. "An angel wouldn't be at the top of a monument for a king."

Kandé slinks back, trying to make herself unnoticed, blushing to the roots of her hair.

"Why are they honouring the queen?"

I pause to think of an answer. "Because she did great things during her reign," I respond slowly. "She saved them from an enemy attacking her people without any help."

"Why didn't she have any help?

I turn and trace my hands over the designs. There are runes carved in the marble slab, but I can't read them. They must be some kind of ancient script.

"Because," I begin, "no one believed the aliens attacking her people were evil! They had to stand by themselves!"

"How did they defeat them?" Meika asks, trying to keep me going, helping me enthral the youngsters with the tail.

I pause to think of a good answer. "There was a big fight. Huge – lots of people were killed. The Queen was losing, and then, the Gungans came and rescued her!"

"The Gungans!" scoffs Aliaé, turning her chin upwards haughtily. "The Gungans wouldn't help _anybody_. They're too busy mucking about under the water and keeping their slimy noses hidden."

I shake my head. "No, the Gungans definitely came and rescued her."

"How d'you know?" Aliaé demands.

I shrug and point to a design on the edge of the marble slab. "See this here? That has to represent water, so that means Gungans."

Aliaé sniffs. "Yeah. Right."

I ignore her.

"What happened next?" Meié asks eagerly. "Did the Queen win?"

"Yes," I say quickly, "she won and the people loved her for being such a great Queen. But then she decided to stop being a Queen."

"Why?" asks Meika.

"Too much pressure," I reply. "Sort of like old Queen Keirah from Hapes."

Aliaé sniffs again. "But she was a weird Queen. She's the only one who has given up power out of all them."

"Well, this Queen wasn't weird," I say firmly. "Otherwise they wouldn't have built this monument for her."

"How did she die?" Meika asks.

I don't answer immediately. Instead, I turn and run my fingers over the marble slab again, taking in every detail. Again and again, my fingers keep returning to the angel engraved at the head. Why an angel? Obviously, she must have been loved much…

I brush off a few stray twigs that we had missed before.

"She was killed," I say slowly. "Murdered."

My audience gasps.

"How? Why?"

"By her husband," I continue slowly. "For loving him too much."

"That doesn't make any sense," Aliaé objects.

"Her husband didn't know what he was doing," I continue over Aliaé's piercing voice, "but she made him mad with jealousy and he choked her and before he knew it, she was dead. Then he made this monument for her. That's why there's an angel – she was his angel."

Meika sighs. "A tragedy. You sound like you've been reading those old epics again, Kailé."

I shrug. "It's only a guess."

We leave the hill shortly after that, trooping back to our speeders to go home for dinner. Behind us, the wind whistles and the marble slab glows faintly silver.

I wonder if there's any truth to my made up story. The little kids certainly do, but then they've always believed every single word I've ever said, well, except for Aliaé. But she only tags along because she doesn't want to look like a loner or be beat up by the "big" kids.

I hope there isn't any truth to my story. I think I would be really sad if there was.

I hope that whoever was buried there lived a long and happy life.

Someday, though, I'll ask the elders. I'll ask them what they know. I'm curious to see what the woman in the monument's story really is. And, happy or not, I think I'll cry at the end.


End file.
